Tim Crone: Pandemic shows how much we rely on sports

Sunday

The entire sporting world has been at a complete standstill for a little over a month now. We have come to realize the importance of sports in our lives.

The summer Olympics were stopped just once and that was due to World War II. The Olympics scheduled to be held in Japan this summer have been postponed until possibly next year.

That tells the whole story of the worldwide impact of the pandemic we are experiencing. Topics of discussion in a sports column are hard to come by these days. I love sports. It has been a way of life for me. When I played and coached, every game seemed like it was life or death. The drive to compete can overtake your life and cause you to lose track of what is important.

Professional and college sports are scrambling for a solution to resume play and life like we knew it before the pandemic. I would be first in line to pray that could be true, but we all need to look at what is at stake should we begin to fill the stands again with hugs and high-fives all around.

The major head coaches at the University of Missouri volunteered to take a 10% pay cut for several months because MU is slated to lose at least $185 million as a result of the pandemic. Many would argue their high salaries make it affordable for them, but the point is, college coaches all over the country may be required to take cuts due to diminished attendance.

The NCAA schools will be financially crushed after the loss of this year’s March Madness and the possibility of no fall football. The pro level will be equally affected. I have attended every Chiefs home game for the past 33 years and social distancing is an impossibility at Arrowhead Stadium.

We are struggling economically, socially, and mentally and the lack of sports adds a little more fuel to the fire. As sports fans we have the ability to never give in when the game is on the line. We will find a way to adjust our thinking about how to play and watch the game.

How is that going to happen? We will need to come together as a team to make it all work.

As I watch sporting events from 15 years ago, knowing full-well the end result, it does nothing to quench my desire to watch sports. I have now watched the Chiefs win the Super Bowl four times and it is still fun, but I know the outcome.

Everyone in the country feels the same way, but we need to be smart and accurate when the time comes to resume the games we love so much. You do not go into any athletic contest unprepared and you need to adjust in the middle of the game. These are two proven facts that apply to when and how we jump-start the sporting world in the future.

In the words of J.F. Clarke, an American unitarian clergyman: “All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.” Stay safe!

– Tim Crone, a William Chrisman High School graduate, is a former activities director and coach for Blue Springs High School and is a host of a weekly radio show, “Off the Wall with Tim Crone,” on KCWJ (1030 AM) 6 p.m. every Monday. He writes a weekly column for The Examiner. Reach him at t.crone@comcast.net.

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